


surprise

by distractionpie



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Birthday, Established Relationship, Forgotten Birthday, M/M, Surprise Party
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:21:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23532247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/distractionpie/pseuds/distractionpie
Summary: In which Marco drops a bomb into a conversation, Eren has a very panicked afternoon, and Jean gets a laugh.
Relationships: Jean Kirstein/Eren Yeager
Comments: 8
Kudos: 90





	surprise

**Author's Note:**

> yes my tenses wander but i was kind of on a deadline and tenses are the woooooooorst~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
> completely unproofed, i haven't even read this over once, last minute scrambling is on theme okay

“I mean, spring always has a lot going on, what with Jean’s birthday and Easter and the start of exam season,” Marco said, voice a little staticky on the other end of the phone.

Jean’s birthday? Jean’s birthday wasn’t in spring, it was...

…

When the hell _was_ Jean’s birthday? They’d known each other years and yet Eren couldn’t pick out a memory of celebrating it, even something lowkey like drinks or a movie night.

It had to be soon-ish for Marco to be bringing it up, but how soon? Eren would need time to find a good present

“Jean’s birthday, right, and it’s a big one coming up,” Eren said, wondering how he could prompt Marco into mentioning the date.

Marco laughed.

Eren waited.

Marco’s laughter trailed off

“Eren, you know today is the seventh, right?”

“Yeah,” Eren said. “What does that have to do with…”

Oh.

No.

He wasn’t implying…?

“It’s today?!”

“Oh… um…” Marco sounded horrified. “You… knew that already, right?”

“Of course I did,” Eren blustered. Jean’s best friend cannot know that Eren is a terrible boyfriend who had not even slightly been aware of that fact. “Sorry, I—” holding his phone in the direction of the window, he said “—traffic, y’know? I can hardly hear anything. I’ll have to talk to you later.”

Hanging up with a force that makes his already battered phone screen pixelate ominously, Eren…

Well, there’s no other word for it.

He panics.

Jean’s birthday is today.

Jean’s birthday.

Today.

And he didn’t know.

How could he not know that? It was one of the most basic things to know about somebody. He ought to have known it just because they were friends, never mind his boyfriend. He can’t even tell himself maybe Marco has got it wrong, because Marco would never get something like that wrong and anyway, this isn’t a date mix up, Eren just doesn’t know. He’s never even thought about it. What sort of selfish asshole is he? Jean’s probably planning to dump him right now for being so useless… which…

Eren stared at his phone. Would Jean really break up with him over this? It was a horrible thing to do. Was he waiting for Eren to be out of their apartment so he can pack his stuff? Surely he wouldn’t do that without at least giving Eren the chance to apologise but…

He’d die if he spent the whole day in suspense. Opening up his contacts, he hit the first name on the list.

Ring, ring, the connection tone and, “Are you with Jean?”

Jean and Armin worked in the same building, usually close by each other, but if Jean had a meeting or Armin were doing lab work…

“Hi Eren. Yes, he’s here, why? Is his phone off?” Armin asked.

“No, it’s not that,” Eren said. “Just… is he okay?”

“Um, hang on. Hey, Jean, are you—"

“Don’t ask him!” Eren shouted and Armin faltered. “Just… be cool. Uh, can you make an excuse to talk in private?”

“I suppose, I mean, I shouldn’t really be taking a personal call in the office anyway,” Armin said, “Hold on.”

Eren held on. He was gripping his phone so tightly that the case was creaking when Armin finally resumed the call. “Eren, has something happened? Why do you want me to tell you if Jean’s alright? You could just talk to him.”

“First, is he?”

“I mean I didn’t finish asking him,” Armin said.

“Your impressions,” Eren pressed. “Did he seem unhappy? Distracted?”

“A little pissed with how his presentation planning is going, but nothing abnormal,” Armin replied. “But I assume you wouldn’t be calling like this if that were true.”

Normal to Armin, who was usually pretty perceptive about such things. And Jean wasn’t in the habit of hiding his anger. Eren and Armin’s friendship would not hold him back if he felt himself wronged. “Has he talked about me at all, or plans?”

“Not more than usual,” Armin said. “He mentioned you’re not on shift today, but we’ve mostly been focused on work stuff.”

Okay. Jean was acting like everything was alright. That was… confusing. Jean got pissy when Eren forgot to take the trash out, there was no way he’d let ignoring his birthday slide. Especially not after the precedent he’d set a week ago for Eren’s birthday. Fuck, even if Eren pulls out all the stops now he’s still going to be playing catch-up: the window for wowing him with a breakfast in bed and blowjob combination had passed and Jean would be at work until four which means there was no filling the day with pandering to his interests.

And yet Jean was fine with that?

Eren needed a second mind on this problem. Asking would give away his ignorance, but he needed to check and if anybody could be discreet it was Armin. “The thing is… did you know it’s his birthday today?”

“Today? No, Jean’s birthday is…” Armin paused. “I… actually, I don’t think I know when it is. But, today?”

“That’s what Marco said,” Eren explained. “And I didn’t know either. I was worried he’d be pissed at me for not acknowledging it, but if he’s acting normal, and you haven’t said anything either…”

“I’ll wish him a happy birthday when I go back in,” Armin said. “I can’t believe I never thought to find out…”

“No,” Eren said. If Jean wasn’t lashing out yet, he didn’t want Armin to be the one to provoke him. Either Eren could somehow find a way to salvage the situation or he ought to be the one to take the brunt of Jean’s temper.

But how the hell could he make this okay? 

Eren couldn’t be the first person in the world who’d forgotten his boyfriend’s birthday. How would this play out for somebody else? But the only forgotten birthday stories he could remember were all from TV and it always turned out the character who believed their birthday to be forgotten was simply being fooled in preparation for a surprise party.

Fuck.

That must be what Jean thought was happening.

When Armin hadn’t acknowledged his birthday, he’d probably just assumed Armin was in on the plan. A surprise would justify any and everyone who might have forgot, and Eren doubted he and Armin were the only ones, since Jean hadn’t seen fit to remind anyone by dropping hints about gifts or plans in the run up. But Jean wasn’t worried because to him it was all part of the plan.

Eren was a terrible boyfriend. The worst. Fuck. And Jean trusted that he had this all under control, believed in him so much that when he woke up to… fuck, Eren’s shitty morning breath and barely a quick kiss goodbye while Jean was still getting up because Eren had promised to meet Mikasa for breakfast… instead of thinking about what a shithead Eren was he’d probably started daydreaming about what a wonderful surprise Eren must be working on

Eren can’t let him down.

It’s three fifteen now, which means he has just over an hour until Jean gets out of work, maybe more if, “Armin, can you convince Jean to stay late?”

“I, he’s not in a bad mood but I don’t think he’s up for overtime,” Armin replied. “And there’s nothing urgent that would have to be resolved today.”

“Make him,” Eren begged. “Please. Even if it’s just half an hour or so. And let me know when he leaves. I’ll owe you big.”

And Armin, sainted, brilliant Armin agrees, at least to the warning if not to being able to effectively stall Jean for long. But at least it gives Eren a framework to plan in.

What did a surprise birthday party need?

A venue? Their apartment would have to do, since there was no way he was gonna be able to find somewhere else at such short notice. Eren would just have to make clear he was taking responsibility for cleaning up the inevitable mess.

Guests were a must, he could mass text their friends and hope nobody ratted him out for being so last minute, but what if people were busy? Even if Eren can pull a party together, it will be pretty shitty for Jean to think some of his friends have blown him off for other commitments that they surely would have rearranged if Eren had actually invited them in advance. Eh, he’d just have to make it good enough that Jean wouldn’t pay too much attention to any absences.

None of their friends were exactly hard to entertain, they already had a decent stash of booze he could open up and music was easy, he knew the password to Jean’s laptop and could pull a playlist off there. Food would be trickier, but he could probably get away with ordering pizza just as the most obvious way to cater to so many people with different preferences. But it wouldn’t be a birthday without cake. There were plenty of bakeries in the neighbourhood, but he couldn’t just grab the first one he found. Jean liked cheesecake best but that wasn’t exactly a birthday kind of cake, if anything it was a dessert. Perhaps somebody could do something with frosting though. Google would know.

And then there was the problem of a present. Something considerate and meaningful. Jean had given Eren a Wings of Freedom shirt for his birthday, thoughtful without being flashy. But Jean wasn’t trying to compensate for somehow managing to forget his boyfriend’s birthday. Eren’s present would have to be phenomenal. And he had three hours tops to think of and find it.

Oh fuck, he’s going to need a miracle.

*

Eren was superhuman.

That’s the only explanation for it.

It was six twenty-five, Armin had texted that he and Jean are a few minutes out, him following Jean home under the guide of needing to pick up a book he’d left while visiting them.

Music was playing, the lounge was all done up for a party (technically most of the things he’s put up are Christmas decorations but Eren had picked out all the obviously festive ones and it wasn’t like anybody was going to be inspecting them closely) and nearly a dozen of their friends were crammed into the room, hiding behind the couch and curtains and Connie tucked under the coffee table.

There’s a cake in the kitchen, chocolate with cheesecake frosting (thank you Sasha for helping him track that down), and a hastily wrapped present waiting in the bedroom that Eren was hoping is up to scratch but he’s already got a few ideas of how to take Jean’s mind off any disappointment.

Now it’s just waiting in tense silence for the big moment.

The walls of their building are thin and he can hear voices in the hall as they approach, Armin’s carrying in a way that suggests he’s speaking loudly on purpose to ensure that Eren hears them coming.

A click of the key in the lock.

The handle dipped.

The door swung open.

“SURPRISE!”

Eren immediately regretted not clapping his hands over his ears, standing in the thick of it made it all too clear just how loud their friends could be.

Frozen in the doorway, Jean looked blown away (quite possibly by the volume), his jaw slack as he gaped around the room at the hastily assembled party.

“What... you...?”

He whirled on Armin, who shrugged and shook his head, before scanning the room for Marco, who pointed to Eren with a grin.

“Happy Birthday,” Eren said, marvelling at Jean’s wide eyes. He’d never realised his boyfriend was such a good actor. Seeing how bright his expression was made Eren wonder how blown away he’d be by a real surprise -- although he doubted he’d ever find out because if Jean had spent the day believing Eren had forgotten the occasion he’d probably refuse to even come home.

“Oh my god...” Jean muttered, and he was overdoing it a little now, but it was cute how much he was trying with the surprise effort so Eren wouldn’t tell him so and Jean looked around and then blurted out, “You’ve gone completely overboard. Is that a disco ball?”

Eren grinned, that had been Ymir’s contribution but it had been him who’d done the work of getting it hooked up to the ceiling. “For you, there’s no such thing as too much.”

Jean punched him in the arm. “You fucking cheeseball,” he accused, but his eyes were bright as he looked around the room. “Seriously, Eren, how did you... are those party rings?!”

“It’s not a birthday party without party rings,” Eren pointed out, but Jean had already abandoned him in favour of stealing the whole damn plate of biscuits, which were supposed to be for everyone. But what the hell, it’s his birthday.

The party was a rousing success. Their friends were party people and will all of the effort Eren had put into setting it up, how could it not be? 

But as the guests began to leave there was still a twisting pit in Eren’s stomach that remembered that Jean’s happiness stemmed from dishonesty. From being fooled into believing that Eren was a better boyfriend, a better person than he was. It’s unfair to him, and risky too, because Jean was smart and if Marco mentioned their earlier phone call and Eren’s surprise, Jean was going to suspect that Eren’s actions weren’t quite as masterfully planned as he’d like to pretend.

As the last guest left, Eren weighed up if he could live with this deception, but before he could come to any conclusion, Jean tugged him into the bedroom saying, “So, Marco spilled huh?”

“What?”

Jean raised his eyebrows. “How else would you know about today being my birthday? It was always during spring break, growing up,” he explained. “And we used to go visit my grandmother. And then at college there was always so much going on with spring break partying, so I’ve never made a thing of it. The only people you could have got the date from were Marco or my mother, and if it were her I’d have known you knew.”

Was Jean saying... he expected Eren not to know? That Eren hadn’t forgotten or failed. Thank fuck. He’s not a complete failure of a boyfriend after all. “Well, I told him I already knew,” Eren admitted. He’d assumed Marco’s shock had been at Eren’s ignorance, but maybe he’d just felt awkward at drawing attention to something Jean has always kept quiet. “But… are you saying this is your first ever birthday party?”

“I mean, I celebrated with family,” Jean said. “And I’m not trying to throw a pity party here or anything, I liked it as a family thing, my mum never failed to go all out on the cake. But this is cool too.”

Eren breathed a sigh of relief. It had seemed like Jean was enjoying the party, but it was nice to know this hadn’t been the bad sort of surprise.

“When did he tell you though?” Jean asked. “Because, I’m surprised Marco managed to keep it from me, he’s not much of a liar.”

“Thisafternoon.”

“What was that?”

“This afternoon,” Eren admitted, grimacing.

Jean gaped at him.

“Did you fake a surprise party to cover for the fact you hadn’t acknowledged my birthday because you didn’t know?” he asked, suddenly severe.

There was no point in denying it. Eren nodded. “When I realised it was your birthday, but you hadn’t responded to me not celebrating it this morning, I thought you had assumed there was a surprise and were playing along. So I decided to make you right.

“You thought that you could fool me into believing you’d known all along,” Jean’s brow was furrowed but the corners of his lips were twitching upward and a moment later he broke. “Eren you completely ridiculous...” he cut his own words off, pressing his lips against Eren in a giggly kiss.

After a few long kisses he pulled back. “Thank you for the experience. But maybe next year we could keep it a little more… intimate,” Jean suggested with a sly grin, that Eren was more than happy to accommodate.

Jean pulled them both down onto the bed with a bounce. On the other side of the bed, there was the sound of shattering.

“Um... Eren...?”

“So... if I’d had more time I might have put some bubble wrap on your present as well as the paper...” Eren said, glancing over the bed at the package which was now severely misshapen had fallen and definitely shattered. “But fortunately, I have an excellent plan B.”

“Oh yeah?”

Eren swung a leg over Jean’s waist, pinning him to the bed with a grin. “It’s still your birthday for another two hours,” he reminded Jean. “Let’s see if you can last.”


End file.
